Unexpected Love (White Oak-Mafia #2) (28 page)

“Or La Motte,” she added.

His phone rang. “That was fast…ah…give me his number.” Dan punched a phone number into his phone.

He hung up. “Brad asked Sheriff Cobbs to check it out. He was already in La Motte.”

“I like Sheriff Cobbs,” she said.

Dan called the sheriff and thanked him for the assist. “I see. Anyplace else? That’ll work. Let’s do that. Let me pass you over to Tess. She’s in charge of logistics.”

Tess appreciated Dan handing the situation over to her because, truthfully, she hated not being in control. “Sheriff Cobbs, how are you?”

“I’m just fine. I’m at the grocery store and not even Sam could land a copter here. However, I’ll be glad to pick up your order and carry it to a field two blocks away.”

“Thanks for the offer, but could you tell Andy where the field is so he can do it?  I’ve already caught hell for using taxpayer’s money for my personal needs. I don’t want anyone saying I’m causing you to spend your time on my problems as well.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. It has your father’s stink all over it.”

She sighed. “I think so, too.” She then told him what Andy said about the back road.

“I’ll check that out. It would please me greatly if I could stick Benito with the destruction of government property.”

“But tell Andy where that lot is first.”

He chuckled. “First item on my to-do list.”

“Sorry…I guess I tend to micromanage.”

“Not a problem. If you need any help, or if more shit comes down from your father, call and let me know. While I may not be able to do anything about it, I’d still like to know. It may help me.”

She found Sheriff Cobb’s comment odd. How could her complaints about her manipulating father help him?

Next she called Sam and explained the wire problem at the parking lot.

“Are you sure?” Sam asked. “I double-checked my prior flights. I landed there this April.”

“The sheriff was just there. But could you let him know those wires are recent additions?”

“Yes, ma’am. Just have Andy call me when he’s headed out to the empty lot.”

She hung up the phone and looked into Dan’s stern eyes. “Sam says he was able to land in the grocery store parking lot this April.”

“You think Cobbs is lying?”

“No! I think my father…” She sighed. “Someone has evidently strung wires since then.”

He took his phone from her hand and activated it. “Brad, find out when the extra wiring was placed at the grocery store in La Motte.” He sighed. “It shouldn’t be that hard. I’m sure the owner of the store can give you an approximate date and what utility service did it.”

He hung up and rolled his eyes. “Sure you don’t want to major in criminal justice? I could really use a partner with a brain.”

The door opened and Steel frowned at them. “One of you needs to be cooking tonight,” he warned as he entered and closed the door behind him. His arm went around Tess’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“Just a logistics problem that required the assistance of an ace pilot, a high school kid, a police officer, and a Secret Service agent to solve.”

Steel pressed his lips to her forehead. “Well, thank God we have all that.”

Tess patted Dan’s arm. “I do.”

“Great…dinner?” Steel reminded her.

“I’ll get right on it,” she assured him, but Dan secured her arm.

“I’ll cook dinner tonight.”

“Thanks. I wanted to review the plan with Steel.” She paused. “Can you cook chicken? Because that’s all we have left.”

“Then, assuming I can find the ingredients, we’ll have Chicken Cacciatore.”

“And if we don’t?” Steel challenged.

“Then we’ll have grilled chicken and whatever I can find for side dishes.”

“This storage room is well stocked with dry and canned goods,” she assured him and pointed to another door.

“Where’s the printer?” Steel asked.

She led him to the printer and handed him the paper resting in the bin. Then they returned to the main room where Dan cooked, Tess planned, and the rest of the crew huddled around ink splotches.

Forty-five minutes later, the light blinked on the outer hallway and Tess ran upstairs and opened the front cabin door. She smiled at Sam, holding a box of groceries in his arms. Instead of dropping it off and leaving, he evidently intended to carry her groceries inside.

She stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind her as she whispered, “What you are about to see, you can never speak of,” Tess warned.

He nodded. “Sheriff Cobbs already gave me the lecture. I gotta admit. It’s got me curious.”

Just then, Sonny, Frank, and Jack opened the cabin door and joined them on the porch. After introductions, they grabbed the other boxes of groceries in the helicopter and silently went through the cabin’s kitchen, into the closet, and down the steps. Tess and Sam followed.

When they entered the living room, Sam’s eyes rounded like saucers. “Holy shit! How long has this been here?”

Tess grinned. “No idea. It was here when I arrived six years ago.”

Frank’s head snapped in her direction. “That’s right. You’re only twenty-two.”

“Don’t judge me by my age,” she growled.

He held his hands up in surrender. “I’m just more impressed than ever.”

Sam winked at her. “She comes from impressive stock. Helen was an amazing woman.” He set down the groceries on the counter. “Sorry about her passing.”

Tess nodded and focused on putting the groceries away.

Steel introduced himself to Sam. “Thanks for stepping up and helping us.”

“Not a problem. Tess says you’ll be taking out a tree a day for the next month.”

Steel smiled at her. “Tess would know. She’s in charge of cutting.”

Sam grimaced. “Could I get a written contract? I tried to get a loan to buy another helicopter today, but the bank won’t do it without a contract worth more than the helicopter.”

Tess abandoned the groceries. “Sam, I thought you wanted to wait for something else to happen first.”

“Ah, that. Turns out I don’t need a divorce. Nancy had some sort of aneurysm at the hospital today and died.” Sam stated his wife’s demise without an ounce of sadness.

“When?” Tess asked.

“Sometime this morning, only no one bothered to let me know until an hour ago.”

Tess frowned. Something wasn’t right with his story. “So when did you talk to the bank?”

He grimaced. “My cousin is the loan manager at Westall. He called me about Nancy.” He glanced at the men. “My wife and I have been at war since our honeymoon. The only reason we stayed together was because my business would go bankrupt if I divorced her.”

“Been there,” Frank grumbled.

“But you were planning to divorce her yesterday,” Tess reminded him.

“I was. Given the new business on the horizon, I realized it was now or never.”

Dan stepped from the room. Tess had no doubt he was calling Brad to check out Sam and his wife’s death. It contradicted everything Sam had said an hour ago.

Realizing Dan had abandoned his post as cook, she took over as Steel and Sam discussed the contract. She resented how quickly Sam had shifted his charm to Steel.

She jumped when a hand rested on her back. “Thank you for saving dinner,” Dan whispered.

“No problem. Can we talk later?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Her stomach roiled at his tone, which indicated he had a great deal to share, and it was all bad.

If Sam thought he’d leave with a contract, then he left disappointed. Steel was charming, but unmovable, stating government contracts were slower than glaciers. In the meantime, they’d try to ensure he had sufficient work to keep his current business afloat.

He promised Sam a lot less than Tess had. She wondered if Sam regretted switching his allegiance to Steel.

Steel, Dan, and Tess grabbed their food and went to Steel’s room.

Tess spoke the moment the door closed. “I’m not comfortable with this switch in Sam.”

“That’s because you have good instincts,” Dan replied as he sat in the rocking chair.

Steel sat down and pulled Tess next to him, wrapping his arm around her. “What’d you find out?”

“Sam Collins’ house was going to foreclose next week, only someone paid the entire six-hundred-thousand-dollar-plus mortgage off an hour ago.”

“Who?” Steel asked.

“Don’t know yet, but the FBI is all over it. They went through his house while he was here.” Dan glanced at Steel. “Thanks for keeping him occupied.”

Steel pulled Tess closer against his side. “Thank Tess for not tossing him out. His switch of allegiance had to piss her off.”

She grimaced and nodded that it had. “So how’d you know Dan wanted you to stall him?”

He pulled out his phone. “Text message.”

She hugged him while she smiled at Dan. “I’m glad you became our head of security. We work well together.”

Dan nodded. “And thank you for taking over dinner.”

“So any idea why Sam suddenly wanted a contract?” she asked.

“I don’t think it’s to buy a helicopter,” Dan replied.

Another flaw to his story hit her. “Wait. I went with Grams to check out his mill years ago. Unless he has moved, his house shouldn’t have cost more than two hundred thousand in today’s market.”

“The real estate agent Brad spoke to said he’d be lucky to get a hundred thousand given its condition and location.”

“So how did he get a mortgage of six hundred thousand?”

“Well, he does have a cousin who is a mortgage lender at Westall. It’s possible controls were skirted. Not sure yet. But the cousin isn’t on speaking terms with him since he stopped making payments on the mortgage a year ago. Sheriff Cobbs charmed the phone company into providing the call history on Sam and the cousin without having to get a warrant. No calls were made tonight to the cousin. However, Sam did receive a call from Mr. Drenner an hour before he spoke to you.”

Tess sighed. “This is why I have trust issues,” she muttered.

Steel kissed her temple.

“Not with you,” she promised Steel.

He rewarded her with a smile. She noticed Dan’s jaw clenched. “I trust you too, Dan.”

A faint smile came to his lips as his gaze locked onto hers. “Thank you. But just to be clear, you have reason to mistrust those around you. Your father has tremendous influence in Iowa. You should limit your trust to us.”

“What about Sheriff Cobbs?”

Dan breathed out. “He seems solid—at least in this matter.”

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“He’s dedicated himself to destroying the Campinelli family.”

Tess found it hard to believe that the kind Sheriff Cobbs would have such an obsession.

“Why?”

“He rightfully blames Eddie Campinelli for the death of his wife.”

Tess gasped. No wonder Grams had called her husband “the monster”. How many wives had her grandfather killed? He’d also killed his assassin’s wife. God, she hated her family. “I’ll try to talk the sheriff out of his vendetta because it’s going to end badly.”

“Cobbs is a former FBI agent. If he dies from anything other than old age, the feds will be all over Benito. They protect their own, even retired agents.”

“Good.” She swallowed hard, forcing herself to ask the question she’d been dodging for too long. “If my father is closing in on me, can you keep Steel safe?”

“I’m not sure,” Dan replied. “Benito is a formidable enemy. And to be honest, I think you could be in danger as well.”

“Dan,” Steel growled.

“She asked, and I’m telling her the truth. If you want to reduce the danger to yourself and Tess, then both of you should get on a plane and go to England.”

Tess would hate leaving her forest, but to save Steel, she’d do it…

“No,” Steel snapped. “Everything we love is here.”

Dan leaned forward and stared at Steel. “The only thing worth loving is sitting beside you.” He then nailed Tess. “And vice versa. Your fixations on these woods and mounds are madness.”

“Not to us,” Steel stated through gritted teeth.

Tess wrapped her arms around his chest. Steel’s career depended on those mounds, and careers meant a great deal to men in general and Steel in particular. This wasn’t the first time he’d risked his life for his job. By siding with Dan, she’d only break Steel’s trust in her.

She met Dan’s gaze. “Steel is right. Our purpose in life is here.”

Dan leaned back in his rocking chair, clearly disappointed by her stance. “Well, I’ll do everything I can to keep you both alive. And if necessary, I’ll give up my life doing it.”

“Not for me,” Tess corrected. “You are here for Steel.” Under no circumstances did she want Dan to die, especially not for her.

Dan smiled at her and shook his head. “Then you shouldn’t have been so damn likable and amazing.”

“Dan, no,” she whispered.

Steel pulled her tight against his chest. “Thank you, Dan.”

Dan nodded and left the room.

Instead of leaving as well, Tess tightened her grip around his waist. “Make love to me.”

***

God, Steel couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than to make love to Tess, but he didn’t want her regretting her request later. And then there was Benito Campinelli. He
really
didn’t want a mafia-style second circumcision, but he’d never share that reason with her.

“Tess, it’s been a rough two days. We should let matters calm down first.”

She pushed back and looked him in the face. “Things aren’t going to calm down. They’re going to get worse. My father has declared war on both of us. Dan will do his best to keep us alive, but there is a chance we will die.” She stroked his face. “I don’t want to die without knowing the full depth of your love. Will you not make love to me just once?”

He leaned in and nibbled her plump bottom lip. “I don’t think I can do ‘just once’,” he admitted.

“Then make love to me for the rest of my life,” she pleaded.

All of Dan’s warnings, Steel’s own sense of survival, even his dreams of the archeological find of the decade fell before her enticing plea. He lifted her up, placed her into the center of his bed, and lost his clothes in short order.

As he approached, his body aching for her, he almost asked her if she was sure, but the lust in Tess’s eyes silenced his question. He’d never had a woman more willing than his sweet Tess. And unlike all the women before her, she was truly his, heart and soul.

As he settled in above her, Tess’s hands fluttered about, as if uncertain what to do, alerting him she lacked experience in this matter. But how little experience did she have?

“Tess, are you a virgin?”

Her eyes rounded with worry. “Is that a problem?”

God, she was
.

He pulled back before he took what she freely offered and laid beside her, stroking her beautiful black hair. Her virginity could protect them both from the wrath of her father. It was proof their love was platonic. He shared his reasoning with her. Her disappointment nearly broke his heart, but for both their lives, he had to stand firm.

“Tess, words cannot express how much I want you, but right now, we need to stick to the plan. We’ll both be safer if you remain a virgin. If matters go badly, that fact could save us from harm.”

Tess sighed deeply and laid her head upon his, “Maybe Dan’s right. We should escape to England. While I love these woods, I love you even more. I don’t want to lose you.”

Steel kissed her tenderly. “You won’t, I promise. We’ll get through this.” He pulled a gold ring from his second finger and placed it on her ring finger, fully aware it would be way too large for her. “Tess Campbell, will you marry me sometime in the future when we get all this nonsense behind us?”

Her face lit up in pure joy. “Yes!”  She then tested it on all her fingers. The ring was too large for even her thumb.

“I’ll buy you a proper ring later,” he promised. “Just wear it as a necklace right now. We don’t want anyone else seeing it. Not even Dan.”
Nor her father, nor his parents, nor the men who worked for him.
“But you need to know I’m truly in love with you. That’s a family heirloom that has been passed down for countless generations. It’s important to me, but you are even more so. I love you, Tess, with all my heart.”

He pulled her tight to his chest as she examined the etchings on the ring. “We’ll get through this,” he promised. “Dan is as good as they come. Nothing is going to happen to either of us. Together we’ll create the finest park in the country. I’ll regain my reputation, and you’ll make one for yourself. We have nothing to worry about. We’ve got a secret weapon that no one can stop.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Helen.”

Tess laughed softly. “Good point. We’re going to have a great life with Grams pulling the strings up in heaven.”

“Then we stay here and protect what we love?” Steel asked.

Tess nodded. “We stand and fight.”

Steel smiled. “And we’ll succeed.”

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The tribulations continue in

Book 3: Dance or Die